Defrost
by Paisleylace
Summary: What do you do when you bring someone back from the dead, but they don't believe you? Procrastination AU, pre-thiefshipping, background/implied puzzle.
1. Chapter 1

I make a solemn vow this day that the next thing I publish will be the next chapter of Complicity or may all my bread fail to rise.

Procrastination AU again. This time, we go far back into the past and discover that the more things change the more they stay the same. Specifically in regards to Bakura being a jackass. Will there ever be an installment exploring what exactly goes down in the kitchen? Maybe. Random HC that Malik dislikes blood, specifically bleeding. Even more specifically, blood trailing over his skin.

Unbeta'd, my mistakes have frostbite.

* * *

It's snowing the day they bring Bakura back, a frightening blizzard that's had Domino City frozen solid for almost a week. In retrospect, it's the only reason they don't lose him in the first ten minutes.

Ryou's the one who floats the idea one day, casually, like he's wondering if Malik would rather have hot chocolate or tea. Malik sits in silence, as does Atem and Yugi. None of them were prepared for it - they'd just been debating if the god cards should be interred in a museum or put back in Yugi's deck, passing the time while they waited to see if Rishid and Isis' flight over would be cancelled again or not.

Atem, surprisingly, is the first to agree. Yugi asks when and if they need to bring any supplies. Malik says nothing, because he doesn't quite believe it and won't until Bakura is warm and breathing in front of them.

Yugi also wonders how, because Ryou sounds rather confident he can do it. This wouldn't be like the resurrection of Atem, which was helped along by literal divine intervention. The gods were sick and tired of watching him pine after his still living friends, and so didn't hesitate to push him forward when Yugi had halfheartedly performed a ritual out of pure curiosity. His dead ones were happy to let him go - after all, they knew they'd see him again. Ryou simply says he can.

None of them ask why, and none of them would. (Bakura's the only one who does, and Ryou has no answer for him.)

On the next new moon, at the start of the witching hour, they begin on Yugi's living room floor. Two layers of salt circles with a triangle in the center, made of mallow leaves and rowan twigs sprinkled with tobacco ash. A teaspoon's worth of Ryou's blood on a glass plate that everyone pretends isn't there, and a white cotton string which he ties around his little finger, leaving one end trailing. A small wooden carving of the Thief King, painted and clothed in red felt, detailed down to the scar on his face.

Ryou lays down in one corner, the carving carefully placed in another by Yugi. The hand with the string reaches out into the final corner, which holds the plate. The string stains red and Ryou passes out. Kaiba, who'd been successfully bribed into helping out with a duel and a tournament entry each from Yugi and Atem, recites something in Latin from a piece of paper that Ryou wrote. He's monotone and clearly not believing a word he's saying as he does so, but that doesn't matter - the call of a High Priest is impossible to ignore, even if he's not been remotely priest-like for three thousand years.

There's no crackle of lightning, no blast of cold. The lights don't suddenly flicker on. Not a flash or a bang or even a puff of smoke and Yugi will quietly complain that he feels kinda cheated later. One moment, there is nothing. The next, there is Bakura, who will take a lot of convincing to believe there's much difference.

He awakens before Ryou and sits up. He blinks, slowly and deliberately. He looks around and sees everyone, but doesn't seem to really _see_ them.

"This is the dumbest one yet," he says, his voice cracked and rough. Bakura tries to stand, but Ryou's dead weight pulls him back - the trailing bloodied end of the string is now wrapped around his own finger. He looks down at Ryou and what little life was in his eyes drained out. "Not funny."

"I know you probably won't believe us but this is no dream, nor an illusion," Atem states. "We brought you back."

"Are we sure it's him?" Yugi whispers.

"Oh shut up, you're not even _trying_ to be original anymore. What is it this time? 'To atone for my sins', or 'To pay back my soul's debt'? Fuck off. I don't owe _you_ shit."

"Yeah, that's him," Malik answers and at his voice Bakura flinches and looks like he hates himself for doing it.

Kaiba cricks his shoulders and turns to Yugi. "Are we done here?"

"Oh! Right, not yet. I was supposed to do this once he came back," Yugi remembers. He crosses the salt barriers and gently cuts the thread connecting Bakura and Ryou with a small knife and Bakura _gasps_. Like all the air was suddenly sucked out of his lungs.

"Alright, that's new," he croaks out once he gets his breath back. "Half point for surprising me."

Kaiba rolls his eyes. "Monday, eight PM, my office," he orders as he leaves, pointing at Yugi while he does so who nods absentmindedly as he tries to wake Ryou. "If you're late you start with a one thousand life point penalty."

"Might as well drop three thousand, then you might actually stand a chance against him," Atem boasts.

"Four thousand."

"Six thousand! Right Yugi?"

"Sure, whatever," Yugi murmurs. As they laid the circles out Ryou had said that he might take a while to come back around afterwards. Anywhere from a few minutes to a few days, depending on how much life energy he had to manipulate to find and restore Bakura. Forever wasn't spoken, but somewhere deep in his gut Yugi knew it had been a possibility Ryou hadn't told him.

He desperately wanted it to be minutes.

"Is he dead?" Bakura asks, suddenly next to him.

Yugi checks his pulse, then leans down to listen to Ryou's chest. "No, but he's out cold."

"If you think this is just a trick, why do you care?" Malik asks, moving so close he can almost touch Bakura as he backs away from Atem and Seto's spat.

Bakura flinches again, then shrugs as if it never happened. "Gets it over with quicker, I guess. Once I figure out it's an illusion it's probably not as fun anymore..." He trails off as he spots a bottle of water, abandoned by the couch. "Gimme that."

Malik tosses it over and Bakura takes a sip. He immediately chokes on it, coughing until his face is red. "Nice one, using actual water." he says shakily. "'Nother half point. Usually the first thing I eat or drink turns to sand, or molten metal. One time it was blood."

He wipes his face then drinks again, carefully this time. Then he lurches forward, his hand caressing Malik's cheek and Malik can't move, his entire body tensing at the touch, committing every inch of calloused skin to memory. His hand lingers on Malik's face and neither Yugi nor Malik miss the tremors, no matter how slight.

"Y'know," he stutters, his eyes flickering about wildly, looking everywhere but into Malik's eyes. "You're supposed turn to sand too, now that I've touched you. Burst into flames. Turn into a thousand snakes or start talking with my mother's voice, saying how much I failed her. Sometimes just straight up die, that happens too. Go on."

Yugi and Malik, obviously, do none of those things. As Bakura waits, he draws into himself like he's bracing for impact. Eventually he snaps. "Get it the fuck over with! You can't fool me!"

"This isn't a trick, Bakura," Yugi says as calmly as he can manage, but it doesn't work. Bakura's eyes are wild and bright with fear as he backs away, jolting as he hits the wall behind him.

"Fuck you!"

Yugi does the first thing that comes to mind and leaps at him. He hits the door with a dull thud and a lap full of Yugi and together they slide to the floor. Yugi wraps his arms around his shoulders desperately.

"This is _real_. I can't prove it _,_ but it _is_. Please believe us, we don't want-"

Yugi shrieks as sharp pain pierces him. Bakura's _biting_ him _._ He's sank his teeth into Yugi's neck like he means to tear it open, then lets go as Yugi pulls back and kicks him off, fleeing into the kitchen. Atem and Kaiba both turn back at Yugi's cry and run over. Malik helps Yugi sit back upright, pressing his hand to the wound. It's not bleeding too badly but there's definitely blood and he shakes off the spots that dash around his vision. He hands him over to Atem and shouts for one of them to keep an eye on Ryou as he chases after Bakura.

The back door in the kitchen, the one leading out into a small alley behind Yugi's grandfather's house, is wide open. Malik runs out into the snow, hissing as it whips his skin, trying to spot a flash of red in the whiteout. He was barefoot and dressed for the desert, he wouldn't last five minutes.

He looks down and sees footprints that are too small to be his own, just barely visible on the ground. They go a few steps out, then turn around and go back inside again and relief courses through him. So he's definitely somewhere in the house. Malik does a quick check as he goes back to the group - his grandfather's hopefully still asleep upstairs, his mother's on vacation in Australia. He probably wouldn't have gone back into the living room, meaning he's stuck with the kitchen and the basement as his hiding spots. It's a matter of when, not if, they'll find him.

"Yugi, you okay?" Malik asks when he returns.

"I think so," he answers, still a little stunned, his hand pressed down hard against his neck. Atem keeps his hand over Yugi's, while Kaiba looks about a few seconds away from calling the cops. Ryou's still out cold, so he distracts Kaiba by asking to help lift Ryou onto the couch.

"The antiseptic's still under the sink, right?" Atem asks. Yugi nods then winces and Malik really doesn't like the look on Atem's face, so he volunteers to go get it.

It's entirely by chance that he realizes where Bakura is. A tiny cough sneaks out from behind the fridge after he gets the first aid kit out, when he's finished washing his hands clean and checking that everything they need is inside. There's a tiny space behind it, he remembers, since the fridge is sat diagonally instead of being pushed in line with the wall's corner. He can just about see Bakura when he tries to peek at the side, huddled up with his head buried in his arms, but there's no way he'd be able to reach him - there's not even enough room for him to climb in alongside him from the top.

"Come on, I know you're there."

Nothing.

"Don't play this game Bakura, I'm really not in the mood."

"You're the one playing. I'm not gonna delude myself just to make some _illusion_ happy," he snarls as he looks up, Yugi's blood still staining his lips, his _teeth_.

An idea strikes Malik. "Have any of these illusions ever lasted this long?"

"No."

"Have they ever let you touch us, or taste anything?"

"The fucker in charge is just switching up the formula, that's all. Trying to drag it out."

Malik doesn't really have an answer for that, but before he can bluff the door opens. Yugi's grandfather walks in, somehow intimidating in his fluffy robe and bunny slippers and sleepy grin. Was it the scream or did someone - likely Atem - panic and go fetch him?

"Ah, there you are Malik! Could you go back and see to my grandson for a while? I need a word with our new friend here."

On the one hand, Bakura's a very dangerous person, who probably shouldn't be left alone with a man as ancient as Yugi's grandfather. On the other hand Sugoroku Muto has probably dealt with far worse things than a scared, unarmed teenager - Yugi's told tales of his career that sound like the latest summer action flick but Malik has no trouble believing they actually happened.

"Be my guest."

Yugi's on the couch next to a still unconscious Ryou. He takes the kit off Malik with a quiet thanks, applying a wide band-aid to his neck and crunching one of those chemical ice packs in his hands. Kaiba's nowhere to be seen, having probably gone home now that his rivals are too busy worrying about each other and nobody's about to die. The summoning circle is a wreck from being trodden on and kicked around in Bakura's rush to escape, a wreck that Atem's hesitantly cleaning up like he's never used a vacuum cleaner before.

He retrieves the water bottle Bakura abandoned and takes his own sip, content to just lay back on what space is left on the couch and stare at the ceiling for a while.

Bakura's back. He's alive, even if he doesn't believe it himself.

 _Now what?_


	2. Chapter 2

This will probably be the only Procrastination AU oneshot to be a twoshot. It's so close in the timeline that there's no point uploading it as a oneshot, really. Even if it's stupidly longer than it should be argh.

Next update will be for either Light and Dark or TWEYHO I swear on my unfilled grave oTL

Unbeta'd, my mistakes are a dusty old attic.

* * *

Sugoroku Muto is shaken awake by the resurrected pharaoh from three thousand years ago and doesn't really question it. He learned that lesson when it came to Yugi's friends a long time ago, when Jounouchi appeared at his front door. Yugi's bully was soaking wet, holding the missing puzzle piece that had broke Yugi's heart, and explained everything about what had happened to it, along with Ushio's extortion.

The living room is a mess. There's salt, twigs and leaves scattered everywhere. A bowl of what he dearly hopes isn't blood is spilled all over the carpet. Seto Kaiba, who he hasn't seen since he stole his Blue Eyes and put him in a coma, is standing awkwardly around, alternating his gaze between Yugi, Atem, the door to the kitchen and another boy on the couch. Judging by the white hair, that's Bakura. He could've sworn Yugi mentioned someone else was coming too - one of the Ishtars, the youngest? There was no sign of him.

"You're all very lucky his mother's not here," he decides to say, in lieu of asking what's going on. Yugi and Kaiba both flinch at the sound of his voice, though only Kaiba tries to pretend it didn't happen. He's still never apologized for what he did, although he keeps getting notices from the bank of someone paying off the mortgage on the house for that month before he even opens his checkbook. He'll never let himself use Yugi's tournament winnings, or let Yugi pay it with them for that matter, but he can accept that.

Yugi looks a little dazed from his spot on the floor. His hand is clamped down over his neck. "I'm sorry Grandpa, we didn't mean to wake you up."

"Atem made it sound like you were dying, so I thought you'd got a paper cut."

That manages to drag a laugh out of Yugi, at least, while Atem blushes. Carefully, he pulls Yugi's hand away. The wound has that raw look of freshly stopped bleeding. It's not deep; it breaks the skin but he can't see any veins or arteries that have been damaged. No need for stitches, at least. It won't scar so long as he doesn't pick at it so knowing Yugi he'll probably end up making it look terrible. Still, nowhere near the worst bite he's ever seen. It reminds him of the bite he got from a dog he met a long time ago, when he was a grad student assisting on a dig near Nairobi. A stray puppy nipped him out of fear when he tried to pet it and ran away. The frantic rush to the nearest hospital and rounds of injections with the biggest needles he'd ever seen were worth it.

 _I wonder how that little thing ended up?_

"Who's responsible for this?"

What follows is a confusing babble, not helped by either Kaiba or Atem's interjections, quickly explaining how they resurrected the ancient human form of an evil spirit that once possessed Bakura. He almost destroyed the world twice, for somewhat justifiable (if easily taken advantage of) reasons, and caused a whole lot of trouble before Yugi, Atem and the others were able to stop him. For some reason, Bakura decided that he would retrieve this human form from the afterlife, and nobody else thought to question it. Ah, friendship. He's heard the other half of this story before, at least the one that leads to Atem's return, though he'd always been left curious about the 'thief king'.

Said resurrected human however - apparently _also_ named Bakura, and that's going to get confusing very quickly - doesn't believe any of this in the slightest, at least as far as Yugi knows. Convinced he's in an illusion, he's attacked Yugi and ran off, with Malik giving chase.

Yugi looked down at the floor as he finishes. "It was my fault; I grabbed him and he freaked out. I should've never touched him, at least not without asking."

"That doesn't mean he had the right to bite you. He's capable of rational decisions."

Yugi's shoulders slump. "I'm really not so sure about that. He doesn't think we're _real_."

"If that really was the case, he wouldn't have ran. Where is he?"

The kitchen door is ominously shut as Kaiba points to it. "In there. Ishtar's in there too - he's _supposed_ to be getting the first aid kit."

"I'll send him through."

"Grandpa, are you sure?" Atem asks. He's never referred to him as anything else. Odd, considering technically he's older than even the earliest ancestor Sugoroku can trace back for himself, but it's sweet either way.

"I can handle him."

* * *

"Ah, there you are Malik! Could you go back and see to my grandson for a while? I need a word with our new friend here."

"Be my guest."

Malik shuts the door behind him so nobody could eavesdrop. Good lad he is, even if he seems oddly afraid of him as he leaves. The kitchen is quiet and he can pick up on Oldnew Bakura trying to hide the sound of himself breathing when he turns up the volume on his hearing aid. Or, judging by how rapid and shallow his breaths are, hyperventilating.

"I'm not going to ask _why_ you bit my grandson. I don't think you know the answer either, but don't you think you're getting out of apologizing!" he says to the space where the strange oldnew Bakura hides. The sound stops almost entirely, though too late since he still knows exactly where he is. Reflexes obviously aren't quite what they used to be; he can sympathize. He's in the spot Yugi used to use as a child in hide and seek, then cry until someone freed him because he couldn't get back out. "I do want to know why you're still hiding back there. Surely an old man isn't anything to be scared of. Come on out."

There's a rattling sound from behind the fridge. "Stuck," he eventually answers, sullen. Like any other pouting teenager and not someone who worked for literal demonic forces.

"I can tell. That's an old fridge; the pipes might as well be a rat's nest! What's caught?"

"Just my foot."

Not good - Yugi's had the mild burns to prove that that's not a place he wants him trapped for long. It gets remarkably hot back there. "You know, I once read a story about a young man who cut his own arm off to free himself from a boulder. Want a knife?"

"No."

"What's the problem?"

"..."

"You don't think any of this is real anyway, do you? So, cutting off your own foot shouldn't matter." The gap at the side is just large enough for him to push his trusty old pen knife through. He's had that thing since he was ten and his own grandfather decided to teach him how to whittle. "Go on."

Bakura stares at the knife as it clatters by his feet, one of which looks painfully jammed between two copper pipes. "... Don't feel like it," he eventually mutters, not meeting his eyes even through the tiny gap.

"So much for the _Thief King_. 'Starved to death behind a fridge' doesn't make for a very good ending. Unless I'm just so incredibly scary that you're waiting for me to leave first?"

 _That_ gets his attention. "Calling me a coward?" he says, his voice low and perhaps three thousand years ago a shiver would've ran down Sugoroku's spine, but not now.

Sugoroku returns to his chair, his back cricking as he settles back down. "You're insisting this isn't real, but you're refusing to prove it in the easiest way possible. So... yes, actually."

There's a louder rattle, one that sounds angrier. "Fuck you! You don't know who you're messing with!"

"I don't think _you_ do. I've stared down the barrel of a gun more times than I can count. I've ran through war-zones that officially don't exist _._ I've climbed mountains and crossed oceans, knowing they'd be my lonely grave if anything went wrong. A long time ago, perhaps you and I weren't so different. But now?"

The tip of the knife grazes his throat. His hand grips the boy's wrist. "All you are right now," he continues without hesitation, "is too scared to face the truth. You don't actually _want_ this to be real, do you? Because that would mean you'd have to live again and you have _no idea_ what that means."

His wrist is terribly thin - he can almost touch his thumb and forefinger around it. The image Yugi had conjured was someone who radiated power and seemed to tower over them. The starved reality is good for slipping out of a guard's grip or shackles, or running for his life for miles, not so much for fighting someone who knows more than brute force. He even seems shorter than Bakura.

An old man shouldn't be strong enough, or fast enough, to halt a blade from him regardless. He can't want him dead that badly, at least. Just a little tantrum, and he's been on the receiving end of worse. He's definitely not ending up in a hospital bed this time, that's a plus!

He lets go and waits. The blade slowly drops as he lowers his arm, until it hangs loosely at his hip. Oldnew Bakura's shaking just like that dog did, his hair falling over his face; the slightest push and he doesn't know if Oldnew Bakura will bite back again or crumble.

"Would you look at that? You didn't need to cut your foot off after all." Sugoroku takes the knife from his hands without any resistance, folds it shut and gives it back. He's got plenty of better knives that were also treasured gifts from his own grandpa - one won't be missed. It's better off with someone who'll feel safer with it, anyway.

"Why?"

"If you don't want it..."

He looks down at the blade, then pockets it somewhere in those dark red robes. Then, he's just a lost soul in a house, a _century_ he was never supposed to see. Not lost after all, he decides. At least not anymore. Bakura found him and stole everything he was, from his name to his spark of life, straight out of the clutches of eternal darkness. Surely that means he's now earned the title of 'Thief King'.

"What do I do now?" he asks, like he's never had anyone willing to guide him before. Or never let anyone besides the voice in the shadows and ghosts even try. Sugoroku would curse the demon that tormented this boy and twisted his heart, but it's already dead. He'd curse the people who woke the demon up in the first place, but they're dead too.

He can't hold his hand, but he can at least give him somewhere to start. "First you can apologize to my grandson for biting him. Then accept his apology for grabbing you, since I'm sure he feels terrible about that. Then maybe all of you brats can clean up, because I'm not going to be the one explaining leaves and blood stains on the new carpet to my daughter."

"Except my host," he points out with an unexpected urgency. He's not heard many positive things about their relationship, so this is... strange, to say the least. "He's out cold, he should rest."

"Except Bakura, yes. When he wakes up, let him know he owes me a box of those nice chocolates they sell at the Domino Museum's cafe for performing an occult ritual to resurrect the dead in my living room."

 _Without inviting me!_

"... Right."

* * *

He lets Oldnew Bakura (and he really needs to come up with something better than that!) collect himself in the kitchen for a moment and returns to the living room alone.

Yugi's curled up against Bakura's back, although he can't tell if he's asleep or just dozing. Someone - probably Atem - has pulled a blanket over the pair though he can still see the thick bandage taped to Yugi's neck. Speaking of which, Atem's clearly tried his hardest but the boy _was_ born with a golden spoon in his mouth and has likely never had to clean his own cup before, let alone a room all by himself. It looked better before he got involved; all the twigs have broken into sharp splinters and heaven help him find a detergent strong enough to tackle the now drying blood stains.

Kaiba's gone without a trace now that the excitement's over while Malik's in a daze, staring at the ceiling like he's hoping the bulb dangling above can solve all his problems. Can't be good for his eyes. He glances over at Sugoroku and seems momentarily surprised that he's not dead. He'll let the... former? Prior? Perhaps first. It'll do. He'll let First Bakura tell him what went on in there.

"Yugi's resting," Atem says.

A sleepy mumble that sounds a little like 'No I'm not' makes him shake his head in disapproval. Sugoroku pulls the blanket back and he sits up, rubbing his eyes and wincing a little.

"Sorry about the room."

"It's alright Atem - go get the rug out of the attic. With any luck I can hide it for now and convince his mother that's just a wine stain later."

He absolutely cannot, because his daughter is the smartest person he's ever known and wouldn't be fooled for a second, but Atem doesn't need to know that. He runs off, for what will hopefully be a while. The latch on the attic is notoriously faulty and loves locking itself. He's not taught Atem the trick to freeing himself yet and with any luck, Yugi's never gotten around to it either. Perhaps with his former greatest foe out of sight, First Bakura will come out of the kitchen of his own free will.

He's been told Malik is a master at reading body language and manipulating others with his own. The fact that Sugoroku can see his shoulders relax just a little bit when Atem leaves says otherwise. Or maybe he's just done with acting out that persona today. "Your little friend in the kitchen is fine, too. I hope you three have some idea of what to do with him?"

"Depends on what he wants to do," Malik eventually answers, a little too casually. "He's welcome to stay with Ryou, I think. My place too."

"And here, right?" Yugi pipes up.

Malik grimaces. "I don't think he'll want to be anywhere near Atem."

"Oh, yeah... Maybe not."

"Do any of you have a plan for after that?"

Malik simply shrugs, while Yugi looks at his hands with sudden intense interest. Honestly, kids these days. He bets none of them have even thought about what he's supposed to wear, especially in this weather. "Alright then, how about we get him used to the present, before we start asking about the future?"

"Works for me."

Malik nods in agreement, then tenses as the kitchen door creaks open, and First Bakura peeks out. "Hey," he says quietly.

"Hey," Malik and Yugi respond in unison.

He opens the door a little wider, though still remains mostly behind it. "I'm _possibly_ starting to come around to the idea that this is real."

He'll let that lie slide, at least for now; his pride's had enough of a beating for one day. Knowing Yugi, he'll pick up on the reality of First Bakura's fears in good time.

"That's good," Yugi replies. "I'm sorry for tackling you like that before, by the way."

"Sorry for biting you." he eventually stammers out. He's obviously never had to apologize to anyone before, at least not to anyone living. Then he looks around. "So where did that asshole go?"

"You're gonna need to be more specific." Malik answers.

"The shitty past Yugi."

"'Shitty past Yugi' was the _first_ person to agree to help Bakura get you back," Yugi snaps suddenly. "Just so you know."

That actually manages to surprise him. "Why?"

"I... I don't know, actually. I don't even know why Bakura wanted you back in the first place, let alone why Atem would consider helping."

That's clearly not the answer First Bakura wants by the way he shies away from the door. It's not the answer Yugi wants either. As for Malik, well... He's got his guard back up even with Atem clattering around in the attic.

Bakura suddenly moves, rolling over without waking while mumbling some nonsense, drawing all their attention. "Why don't you all take a page from his book and get some rest?" Sugoroku says as Bakura's own slumber reminds him of how late it is. "None of you are thinking clearly. We can leave Bakura on the couch and I'll keep an eye on him, so you can use my room - there's some fresh sheets in the closet. Malik, you can have the spare room if you're happy to stay over. I don't think any taxis will be out in this weather. Or time, for that matter."

Malik seems genuinely surprised at the offer. He doesn't know what he's done to make Malik think he's the kind of man who'd kick him out into the raging snow, but hopefully this will help change his mind.

"I can watch my host. Don't need a bed."

"Should I get you another blanket or something?" Yugi says.

"I won't be sleeping."

Sugoroku's not sure if he wants to believe those those eyes or the shadows growing underneath them, and judging by the intense stare Malik holds he's having the same trouble, but he lets First Bakura have his way.

"What about all this mess, Grandpa?" Yugi asks.

"You can take care of it in the morning - your mother's not back until the day after tomorrow. We've got time. Oh, and let Atem out of the attic when you go to bed."

Yugi stares at him blankly for a second, then figures it out and sighs like he's disappointed, though a smile can't be stopped from breaking through as he climbs the stairs. "Alright. 'Night Grandpa, guys."

He pauses for a second. "I know this is weird, but it's good to see you again. I mean it."

First Bakura doesn't say anything. Malik leaves next, after a staring contest that lasts far too long for it to be simple intimidation.

"Are you sure you'll be alright down here?" Sugoroku asks once the slightly awkward air clears.

First Bakura perches on the edge of the couch. Before he can answer Bakura sits upright suddenly, eyes open but blank, like a sleepwalker. After a moment of consideration, Bakura grabs his arm and lays back down again, dragging his captive along with him and immediately closing his eyes again.

He's got that deer in the headlights look now as his former host transforms him into a convenient pillow. It's an improvement over 'scared dog', at least.

"Never mind," he says. "I think you'll be just fine."


End file.
